Muti recording receives Dutch Edison Klassiek Award

In late September, the Dutch Edison Klassiek announced Riccardo Muti’s live recording of Verdi’s Messa da requiem with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir as the recipient of the 2022 Best Archival Recording Award.

“This brilliant 1981 performance of Verdi’s Requiem expresses heaven and hell, love and fear in a sublime synchronicity of conductor, choir, orchestra and soloists,” read the jury’s report. “The live recording shows us what happens when everything comes together optimally, namely eternal beauty.”

Released to celebrate Muti’s 80th birthday in 2021, this recording captures the legendary performances of Verdi’s Requiem that took place on Oct. 8 and 9, 1981 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra plays under the baton of the then 40-year-old Muti and features an all-star cast of soloists, including Jessye Norman, Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras and Yevgeny Nesterenko, in addition to the acclaimed Bavarian Radio Chorus prepared by British chorus master Gordon Kember. These performances were Muti’s first-ever appearances in Munich and the start of his long and fruitful relationship with the Bavarian Radio Symphony. The album was produced by BR-KLASSIK, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s recording label, in collaboration with Riccardo Muti Music.

The Edison Klassiek is one of the oldest music awards in the world, established one year after the American Grammy Award. The Dutch Committee of Collective Gramophone Records Campaign established the Edison as “an annual prize for artists who, with their record oeuvre of that year, have given the best performance—in the judgment of the jury—in their genre.” Author Dimitri Frenkel Frank came up with the name Edison as a tribute to the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Alva Edison.

Riccardo Muti is famous for his interpretations of the works of Verdi — a fact well-known to Chicago Symphony Orchestra audiences. On Sept. 27, 2022, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association celebrated the CSO Zell Music Director’s 500th performance since his debut with the Orchestra in 1973 at the Ravinia Festival. In fact, his first concerts as the CSO’s music director designate in January 2009 were performances of Verdi’s Requiem. Those performances were recorded and later released on the CSO Resound label, winning two Grammy awards for Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance. Subsequent performances of the Requiem and other works by Verdi have been highlights of Muti’s tenure.